This journey is designed for birders and nature lovers who also want to learn more about Peruvian culture and history. Your visit begins outside of Cuzco in the environmentally diverse and culturally rich Sacred Valley of the Incas and the Anta Valley. Your birding adventures will include searching for the Andean Condor in the Abra de Malaga and walking through the cloud forest around Machu Picchu where you can find Andean endemics such as the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock and numerous species of hummingbirds, conebills, flower-piercers and tanagers. After your visit to Machu Picchu, you will stay in Cuzco, the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America where you can see the Inca temple of Coricancha or the Temple of the Sun with walls demonstrating some of the finest examples of Inca stonework in existence.

During the second week you will be in one of the most biodiverse rainforests in the world. The Tambopata area, offers birdwatchers an unparalleled opportunity to visit one of the most biodiverse rainforests remaining in the world, with over 1,300 species of birds including the rare Harpy Eagle. Your first day will include an overnight stay at Posada Amazonas, a lodge jointly owned by Rainforest Expeditions and the Native Community of Infierno where you will have ample opportunity observe birds while walking the trails and visiting the oxbow lake and the canopy tower. On the second day you will take a motorized canoe up the Tambopata river to stay at the rustic but comfortable Tambopata Research Center, the only lodge/research center located within Tambopata National Reserve (TRN).

The Reserve is part of a 3.7 million acre reserve which protects the biological diversity of the entire watersheds of the Tavara and the Candamo Rivers and most of the watershed of the Tambopata River. The TRN protects habitats ranging from the Andean highlands around the rivers' headwaters through some of the last remaining intact cloud forests to the lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin. Over 1,300 bird species (including 32 parrot species - 10% of the world's total), 200 mammal species, 90 frog species, 1,200 butterfly species and 10,000 species of higher plants are protected within this reserve. The world's largest known mineral clay lick, where hundreds of parrots and macaws of up to 15 species congregate daily to ingest the detoxifying clay, is also within the reserve, is less than 500 meters from Tambopata Research Center. You can expect to see ten to twelve of the following members of the parrot family: Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Scarlet, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-headed Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons; Blue-headed, Orange-cheeked and White-bellied Parrots; Dusky-headed, White-eyed, Cobalt-winged and Tui Parakeets and Dusky-billed Parrotlets.

DAY 02
CUZCO - SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS
Morning breakfast before transfer to Lima airport. Fly to Cuzco. Arrive in Cuzco and travel to the Urubamba Valley. On the way to our hotel in the Urubamba Valley, a 60 minute drive from the airport, you will stop at Pisaq, a picturesque Andean village, best known for its Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday markets. The ruins at Pisaq are perhaps the best example of the Inca's stonemasonry, although not less impressive are the spectacular views of the surrounding valley and its extensive terracing. After lunch around Pisaq, you will continue down the Urubamba Valley to our hotel. It is possible to see the following birds throughout the valley: Andean Lapwing, Andean Gull, American Kestrel, Red backed Hawk, Blue Capped Tanager, Plumbeous Sierra Finch, and several species of seedeaters. Overnight in hotel in the Sacred Valley B,L

DAY 03
ABRA DE MALAGA
An hour or two before dawn you will eat breakfast and begin your journey to the Abra de Malaga or "mountain pass of Malaga". To have the opportunity to see high elevation Andean birds you will ascend several hundred meters on a rough dirt road to the Abra de Malaga. If you are fortunate you will see the Andean Condor, but you have a greater chance of seeing smaller "puna" or high plains birds such as the Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, Plain-breasted Earthcreeper, several species of ground and chat- tyrants, and wading birds. On the descent on the opposite side of the pass you will reach a large area of bird-rich Polylepis forest. These woods, which typically are found along streams or form patches in gorges and on rocky slopes, constitute one of the highest timberline forests in the world, sometimes reaching elevations of 4,500 meters. The Polylepis tree protects itself from the cold and frost by having several layers of reddish paper like bark insulating it from the weather. These treed areas are important for Andean avifauna, as they shelter populations of endemics such as the Andean Conebill (Oreomanes fraserii) and Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant (Anairetes alpinus), both prevalent to these forests. You will continue descending until lunchtime and enjoy your lunch at 3000-3500 meters of altitude in high elevation cloud forests. These forests provide great sighting opportunities for mixed species flocks of tanagers, mountain tanagers, brush-finches, hemispingus, wrens, ovenbirds and flycatchers. After lunch you will begin our return to our hotel in the Urubamba Valley where you will arrive at dusk. B,PL.

DAY 04
URUBAMBA VALLEY- MACHU PICCHU
After a very early breakfast you begin our journey to Machu Picchu - the "Lost City of the Incas". After a short drive to Ollantaytambo, you will board our train for the Putucusi Rail Station where you will climb a final 2,000 feet by minibus to the citadel of Machu Picchu. Rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu was unknown to the Spaniards. Its reason for existence remains under debate. Some argue it was built and populated by the family of one Inca ruler, Pachakkutek; others have proposed the principal function of Machu Picchu was to maintain a reliable supply of coca leaves for the priests and royals of Cuzco. Bingham fostered the school of thought that the city existed primarily for strategic and defensive purposes, but other findings support the hypothesis that Machu Picchu was a university where the children of the leaders of other Andean cultures conquered by the Incas were taken to be instructed and indoctrinated. You will be free to wander through the maze of empty plazas, chambers and dwellings saddled atop steep mountainsides. After having time to thoroughly explore the significance of a variety of stone structures and ruins, you will descend to the village of Aguas Calientes and bird the cloud forests near the town. We may find Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, flocks of multicolored tanagers, the Inca Wren, the White-Capped Dipper and the Torrent Duck among the more than 300 species registered for the Historical Sanctuary. Overnight at hotel in Aguas Calientes. B,L

DAY 05
MACHU PICCHU - CUZCO
You will spend the early morning birding the gardens of the Hotel El Pueblo and the forests surrounding the town of Aguas Calientes. These areas are particularly good for seeing hummingbirds, conebills, flower-piercers and tanagers including the Blue-and-black, Silvery, Golden-collared, Rust- and-Yellow and Saffron-crowned Tanagers and the Scarlet-bellied and Chestnut-bellied Mountain Tanagers, the Inca Wren. Hummingbirds such as the pufflegs, sapphirewings, sunangels, and sunbeams can be spotted and other birds such as the Rusty Flower Piercer, Orange-Bellied Euphonia, Cinerous Conebill, White- browed Conebill, Moustached Flower-Piercer, Masked Flower-Piercer, can be seen in this area. As an option, those who wish may return back up to the ruins to continue exploring the famous site. After lunch, you will retrace our route to Ollantaytambo and then continue by train on to Cuzco. Overnight at hotel in Cuzco. B,L.

DAY 06
CUZCO
Today you will be up at dawn to take a short drive to lake Huacarpay, where you will enjoy a representative sample of Andean waterfowl including the Speckled Teal, Puna Teal, Yellow-billed Teal, White-tufted Grebe, Many-colored Rush-Tyrant and the Rufous-backed Negrito. In the afternoon, you will return to Cuzco for lunch and a guided city tour. At 11,200 feet above sea level, Cuzco is the heart of Tahuantinsuyo, Peru's pre-Colombian Empire. Cuzco today is the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America, a fascinating and colorful paradox of the past and the present. You will visit the Inca temple of Coricancha or the Temple of the Sun with walls demonstrating some of the finest examples of Inca stonework in existence. The Santo Domingo church was built over this magnificent temple. During the Inca times its courtyards were filled with life-sized gold and silver representations of all the flora and fauna of the Empire. You will also explore Sacsayhuaman, located two kilometers from the city of Cuzco, an immense walled complex made up of huge stones distributed in a zigzag pattern in three platforms with an average of 1,181ft in length. Overnight at hotel in Cuzco. B, L.

DAY 07
CUZCO - PUERTO MALDONADO - POSADA AMAZONAS
After breakfast you will be transported to the airport for your flight to Puerto Maldonado. Upon arrival from Cuzco, reception and transfer to the Tambopata River port in Puerto Maldonado. Puerto Maldonado is situated at the confluence of the mighty Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers and is a bustling, booming tropical frontier town. Its principal activities are gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, timber extraction, agriculture and ecotourism. After a brief survey of the town you will depart on the 2-hour boat trip by motorized canoe to Posada Amazonas. Depending on the arrival time of the plane you will have a boxed lunch aboard the boats or have lunch upon arrival at Posada Amazonas. During your voyage you may see bird species typical of the river or forest edge such as: Black Skimmer, Pied Lapwing, Capped Heron, Jabiru Stork, Roadside Hawk, and several species of kingfishers, swallows and flycatchers. White-winged Swallow, White-banded Swallow, Horned Screamer, Bat Falcon, Olive Oropendola and Green Oropendola are also a common treat. When you arrive at Posada Amazonas you will unpack and unwind. Posada Amazonas is a luxurious yet unobtrusive 24-room lodge owned jointly by Rainforest Expeditions and the Native Community of Infierno. You will receive a short orientation and a complete briefing of the lodge and the Ecotourism Project before your afternoon experience where you will have the opportunity learn about Ethnobotany, or the traditional uses of forest plants for medicinal purposes. We will hike the trails near Posada Amazonas with an Ese'eja native, who will explain how they collect forest products to be used for medicine, construction materials, and food sources. You return to Posada Amazonas for dinner and overnight. A video about the forest of Tambopata will be displayed after dinner.B,L, D

DAY 08
POSADA AMAZONAS- TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER
We will be up at dawn for a visit to the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake. After an early breakfast we depart, fifteen minutes from Posada Amazonas by boat and a 30-minute walk take us to the lakeshore. From here we take a long, easy canoe ride around it. We will look for giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Purple Gallinule, Sunbittern, Sungrebe, Osprey and Black-collared Hawk. The giant river otters that are seen in Tres Chimbadas belong to a resident family of nine. Right after that we will travel up the Tambopata River for 3 to 4 hours into the pristine heart of the reserve. After the first hour we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind as we cross the northern boundary of the 700,000-hectare, completely uninhabited, proposed Tambopata National Park. Differences in wildlife abundance will be noted immediately: we will begin to sight macaws, herons, kingfishers and cormorants frequently and improve our chances of encounters with capybaras, caiman, storks, ducks and other wildlife. Boxed lunch on the boat. We will arrive at Tambopata Research Center in the early afternoon, being greeted by the Chicos, our flock of semi-wild, rescued macaws. On arrival, we will hold an orientation session. After this we will hike the 1.5-mile Bamboo Trail, a trail that is famous for the abundance of rare birds that live exclusively in this habitat and are endemic to southern Peru, like rare antbirds and ovenbirds. It is also the home of the frequently found Howler and Dusky titi monkeys. As we birdwatch our way along the trail we have good chances of finding White-lined antbird, Black-fronted Anthrush, Great Antshrike, Dot -winged Antwren, White-browed Antbird, Warbling Antbird, Black-spotted Bare-eye, Chestnut-winged Foliage-gleaner, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, among others. We will end our hike at the overlooks which are good places to observe canopy birds like tanagers, jacamars, elaenias, guans, and oropendolas. We will return to TRC for dinner. B,L,D

DAY 09
TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER
At dawn we will cross the river and enjoy the world's largest macaw clay lick where hundreds of parrots and macaws of up to 15 species congregate daily. The January 1994 issue of National Geographic features an article on Tambopata Research Center and the Tambopata Macaw Project. It begins with a description of the daily spectacle at the clay lick:" When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife gatherings is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 130-foot-high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beakful of clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet. More than a dozen parrot species will visit the clay lick throughout the day, but this midmorning crush belongs to the giants of the parrot world, the macaws." You can expect to see ten to twelve of the following members of the parrot family: Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Scarlet, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-headed Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons; Blue-headed, Orange-cheeked and White-bellied Parrots; Dusky-headed, White-eyed, Cobalt-winged and Tui Parakeets and Dusky-billed Parrotlets. This show will continue until the macaws sense danger, usually with the appearance of an eagle, and depart simultaneously in an explosion of sound and color. Around mid-morning, when the most intense clay lick activity is over for the day, we will return to TRC for breakfast.

After breakfast we will hike the 1.5-mile Ocelot Trail, a trail that exemplifies the quintessential rainforest. Although at this time of day mammals and birds are not as active as in the early morning, we will concentrate on the forest itself and discuss general rain forest ecology. This forest, which is estimated to be 200 to 300 years old and includes huge Ceiba trees and Strangler figs is home to several mammals: Saddleback tamarins, Squirrel and Brown Capuchin Monkeys and Collared peccary. This trail has the most evidence of ocelot, puma and jaguar, although these three large cats are extremely difficult to spot. This trail also crosses some old ponds inhabited by Hoatzin, Rufescent Tiger-heron, Pygmy and Green-and-rufous Kingfishers, Sunbittern and other species of waterbirds. We will also see a Band-tailed Manakin lek, where the males of this tiny black and orange bird congregate to display their dances in hope of attracting a female. We will return to TRC for lunch and then embark on a 2-mile hike to the palm swamp, a nesting colony and preferred roosting spot for Blue and Gold and Red-bellied Macaws. Although there are different degrees of macaw activity at the swamp year round, the most exciting time to visit it is from October to March. This is the nesting season, when macaws will land on the nests and stand there for several minutes, interacting with other individuals at less then 20 feet from our observation tower. The scenes from the observation tower, especially with a late afternoon sun at our backs, make for incredible photo opportunities. During the afternoon observing the macaws, frequently a mixed flock of bird species may fly into the nearby canopy, allowing excellent close-ups of colorful little tanagers, dacnises, honeycreepers and euphonias. We will hike back to the lodge for dinner. After lunch, we can have a "frog walk" through the forest, allowing the photo lovers to take macro shots of American bullfrogs, horned frogs, tree frogs and an incredible variety of colorful insects. B,L,D.

DAY 10
TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER
We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick. After breakfast we will walk the 1.5-mile Toucan Trail to experience the terra firme forests and palm swamps around TRC as well as a variety of transitional habitats. We hope to encounter primates or other mammals occasionally found on the Toucan Trail such as Spider Monkeys, Brown Capuchins and White-lipped Peccary. Interesting birds found on the hills of the Toucan Trail are the White crested Spadebill, White-eyed Tody- Tyrant, Collared Puffbird and the Golden-Collared Toucanet. This trail's bamboo forests are good for Striated Antwren, Ihering's Antwren, and Dot-Winged Antwren. Finally the palm swamp houses a few species that are hard or impossible to find in other habitats, principally Striped Woodcreeper, Dull-rumped Attila and the Point -tailed Palmcreeper. After lunch we will take a short five minute boat ride to a small, drying oxbow lake where we will spend the afternoon on a platform in the middle of the pond observing some of its bird life, which includes: Hoatzin, Muscovy Duck, Green Ibis, Greater Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Black-tailed Tityra, Green Kingfisher, Ringed Woodpecker, Speckled Chachalaca, Dusky headed and White eyed Parakeets, and Red-Capped Cardinal, Yellow-tufted Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Caciques and Crested and Green Oropendolas, and numerous flycatcher species. We will return to TRC for dinner and an optional second night outing of listening for owls common around the lodge: Tawny-bellied Screech Owl, Spectacled Owl, among others. B,L,D.

DAY 11
TRC - POSADA AMAZONAS
We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick and then return for breakfast. At mid-morning we will depart for Posada Amazonas and have a boxed lunch on the boat. As soon as we get to Posada Amazonas, we will unpack and then visit a native slash and burn farm. Slash and burn agriculture systems are often thought of as wasteful because the fields are cleared by fire and then cultivated for a few years, and then abandoned. Many studies done in the area show that the residents are using a slash and burn technique that allows them to cultivate the same area of land indefinitely. The secret of their success is planting a variety of plants in small patches which protects the crops from diseases and pests that would be more typical for monocrops. We will be able to see first hand how the Ese'eja's approach to farming is more sustainable over time. We will return to Posada Amazonas for dinner and overnight. Another video will be displayed this evening at the dining room. B,L,D.

DAY 12
POSADA AMAZONAS-PUERTO MALDONADO - LIIMA ( PANTANOS DE VILLA)
After breakfast we will return to Puerto Maldonado for our flight out. Arrive in Lima and transfer to day room. After lunch, the we will travel 25 minutes to the wetlands of Villa. Located in the district of Chorrillos in Lima, the wetlands are the only protected ecological site inside the Lima region and it is vital to migratory birds. Villa is representative of the flora and fauna of the Peruvian coastal wetlands and is home to 60 resident bird species and 24 migratory species. If time permits, the group will drive along the coast of Lima to do some birding. Return to hotel for last minute packing and transfer to airport for flight out. B,L

TRIP PRICING Per Person

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TRIP DIFFICULTY: Requires moderate walking on cleared trails that can at times be muddy. To reach both lodges requires a short climb up a series of wood steps with hand railings.

INCLUDES:  All hotel and lodge accommodations based on double occupancy. All scheduled land and river transportation. All transfers. All scheduled excursions with English-speaking guide services. Meals as specified in the itinerary, B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, PL=Picnic Lunch, D=Dinner.

NOT INCLUDED: International or domestic airfares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess baggage charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls, radio calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature.